Veteran’s Day 2021 will be celebrated on the Emporia State University campus on Saturday, Nov. 6, with two special events — the annual Veterans Celebration followed by the dedication of a new Student Veteran Center on campus.
Festivities begin at 10 a.m. in front of Plumb Hall with a light continental breakfast. The Veterans Celebration program begins and 10:15 and includes the presentation of the colors by the National Sons of the American Revolution. Other formal pieces of the program include a MIA/POW Ceremony and the playing of “Taps.”
Guest speaker for the event is retired Army Col. Laura Trinkle. An Emporia State alum, Trinkle graduated in 1991 with a bachelor of secondary education in physical education and a coaching certification. She was commissioned in May 190 with the Army ROTC program at Emporia State. She entered active duty in 1991 as a medical service corps officer with the Second Mobile Army Surgical Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Trinkle retired from the Army in 2020 after 29 years of service. At her retirement, she was chief of staff for Regional Health Command — Pacific. She lives in Kailua, Hawaii, where she is the director of administration, operations and relations for Hawaii Keiki, a partnership between the UH Manoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing and the Hawaii Department of Education that provides school-based health services to underserved students in public schools across the state of Hawaii.
Immediately after the Veterans Celebration, which should end around 11 a.m., the festivities will move to Morse Hall South in Room 434, which is Emporia State’s new Student Veteran Center. The center will be used by student veterans as a study area as well as an area for meetings and other gatherings. Participating in the grand opening ceremony will be members of the Student Veterans Association of ESU.